­ ENGLISH FOOTBALL

A HISTORY OF 'PROFESSIONAL' FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND AND WALES

The oldest (but far from wisest) League in the world was founded in 1888, and initially consisted of 12 clubs in the midlands and north of England. The FA Cup, which initially embraced Scottish clubs, had already been going since 1872. The new set-up was not called the English League as initially it hoped it too would include Scottish clubs, but these formed their own league (1890) instead. A second division was added by absorbing the rival Football Alliance in 1892, and by 1899 it had 36 member clubs. Initially the bottom four clubs had to apply for re-election, but this was reduced to three (1895/6), then two (1898/9), before eventually settling on four (two each from the regional Division 3's) in 1920/1. Full members (those in the top two divisions) had one vote for each available place, whilst associate members (third division clubs) shared a small number of votes between them when it came to deciding re-elections. Between 1893 and 1898 'test matches' (an early form of play-offs) were used to decide promotion issues between the two divisions. The League stopped between 1915 and 1919 for the First World War, but resumed in the latter year with 40 clubs. The League was still largely northern- and midlands-based, so in 1920 the entire First Division of the rival Southern League was absorbed as the FL's Third Division. The following year a further batch of clubs from the midlands and north were added to make two regional Division Threes, North and South. Stopping again for the Second World War (1940-46), it saw the creation of Division 4 in 1958, expansion by four clubs to 92 in 1959 and the start of the League Cup in 1960. The complicated system of goal average (goals for divided by goals against) was replaced by the much simpler goal difference in 1975.

The idea had always been that the bottom four clubs overall would have to apply for re-election each year, although this was sometimes circumvented, and even when the vote took place, it was the clubs voting for each other. It was like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas. As a result, there was a considerable gulf in skill levels between league and non-league, which the League clubs were anxious to maintain. In 1977 the League Management Committee decided to accept only two clubs foe consideration each year, thinking this would enable them to pick stronger candidates. Perhaps surprisingly this worked, and Wimbledon and Wigan Athletic both gained League admittance, though both only narrowly. In 1979, trying to build on this, the top non-league clubs formed the Alliance (now the Conference), from which only the champions would apply. Now threatened with the very best of non-league, the 92 closed ranks, and not a single club went up in the next seven years.

In 1986 play-offs were (re-)introduced and an agreement was reached with the Conference for an automatic exchange of one club a year, though this was not always honoured. In 1991 the FL took the 'bold' step to expand to 94 clubs (ooh!), but the following year saw the collapse of both Maidstone United and Aldershot, and the move was quietly dropped. That same year, with help from an FA abdicating all responsibility for the well-being of the game, the Premier League was created, with the top 20 clubs taking full control (and 99.9% of the money) for themselves, and the remaining 72 forming the 'new' Divisions 1, 2 and 3. In 2001 several Division 1 clubs threatened their own breakaway as 'the Phoenix League'; naturally the Football League panicked and promised further 'reforms' (i.e. more money for the big clubs, less for the small). Then, just as they were considering some type of league reform, their lucrative deal with ITV Digital collapsed (2002), threatening the futures of many clubs. The much-needed reform was dropped like the proverbial hot potato, although two-club exchange with the Conference was belatedly sanctioned. In 2004 the Football League decided to call its top division 'the Football League Championship' (which presumably they thought sounded better than the 'Premiership wannabes league'), thus 'elevating' the old Division 2 and 3 to 'new' Leagues 1 and 2. Sad.

A total of 132 English and 5 Welsh clubs have been members of the Football League in its history (current membership 72, excluding the 20 self-serving money-grubbing (aka Premiership) clubs. There are currently 71 English and 1 Welsh members, all trying to reach the 20-member Premiership (19 English and 1 Welsh). The tables list each club's successes in the F.A. Cup, League Cup and as Level 1 Champions. Also included are the clubs which, for various reasons, never entered the League.

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May 2012

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PREMIERSHIP (Level 1): 7 Pts * CHAMPIONSHIP (Level 2): 4 pts

LEAGUE 1 (Level 3): 2 pts * LEAGUE 2 (Level 4): 1 pt

Level 1 Titles: 20 pts * F.A. Cup: 15 pts * League Cup: 10 pts

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Non-league * Non-Pyramid Leagues

Defunct

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ENGLAND

TEAMS 1-20

TEAMS 21-44

TEAMS 45-68

TEAMS 69-92

TEAMS 93-116

TEAMS 117-132

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CLOSEST TO SUCCESS (ELECTION)